As the world of gems is like no other, where each stone comes with storytelling, the search for the perfect stone is as significant as the stone itself. But with the advent of online purchases, what guarantees can one have that these gemstones are not fake, not conflict diamonds, and are of the best quality…
Over the past few months, union carpenters and contractors have been hitting the ground across New York City, standing with our communities to help build a brighter, more affordable future for everyone. With rents rising seven times faster than wages, our communities need support to ensure that New York remains affordable. This challenge requires a holistic approach, and we’re committed to tackling it on multiple fronts. While we continue advocating for good jobs with fair pay and quality benefits that allow workers to afford to live in the city they build, we recognize that building an affordable city doesn’t just happen on job sites—it starts in the neighborhoods where we live and work.
That’s why we’ve been proud to take part in a series of back-to-school drives and community events, ensuring that the next generation of kids is set up for success. These efforts are a direct extension of our commitment to uplifting New York and making it affordable for all. By providing essential school supplies, we’re not only easing the financial burden on families but also investing in the future of our communities.
In the Bronx, we were on the front lines of four major back-to-school events, distributing over 760 book bags and school supply kits to families in need. These efforts underscore our belief that no child should start the school year at a disadvantage. By providing basic school necessities, we’re investing in the future of our communities and helping to level the playing field for young students.
In Queens, we hosted a back-to-school giveaway in Maspeth, distributing 100 book bags and school kits to ensure kids have the tools they need to confidently start the school year. Additionally, we organized an event in Astoria, where we handed out 250 more book bags and supplies, then headed to Forest Hills to donate 72 school supply kits to students in need. These efforts highlight the importance of coming together with community members to support families and demonstrate our commitment to the future of the next generation.
Brooklyn was also a major focus for us over the past few months. At Kaiser Park in Coney Island, we participated in a back-to-school event, providing 100 students with backpacks and supplies. We also took part in a Family Fun Day at Canarsie Park, celebrating with local families while distributing essential items to help kids start the school year strong. Additionally, at Corona Plaza, we handed out 300 backpacks to students preparing for the new school year.
Aside from helping set students up for success, these drives offered us an opportunity to collaborate with leading organizations and elected officials across the city to give back to our communities. Some of our partners included organizations like Queens Public Library, Forest Hills Stadium, MetroPlusHealth, NYU Langone, Brooklyn Library, ICNA Relief, and elected officials from the State Senate, Assembly, and City Council. These moments of collaboration help us better advocate for the communities in which we live and work. Tackling affordability and building New York’s best is a team effort, and these events provide a venue to discuss issues and opportunities, connect with the community, and hear directly from them about what they need to thrive.
These past few months have been a powerful reminder of what we can achieve when we come together. As union carpenters and contractors, we’re not only committed to building New York’s skyline—we’re dedicated to building thriving communities. Across all the boroughs, we’ve been there for the next generation, ensuring they have the resources and support they need to succeed long-term. After all, building a more affordable New York starts on the ground, with our kids and their future.
In cutting-edge fast-paced global, in which far off paintings and home offices have come to be more and more not unusual, the layout of an operating desk is more crucial than ever. A properly-designed office table design now not best complements productiveness but also creates a comfortable and inspiring environment. Whether you’re putting in place…
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Wells Fargo and Operation HOPE, Inc., a national nonprofit dedicated to financial empowerment for underserved communities, today announced the expansion of a HOPE Inside center in Harlem. The HOPE Inside centers are located inside a Wells Fargo branch in each market, and feature Operation HOPE financial coaches who help empower community members to achieve their…
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Department of Social Services (DSS) Commissioner Molly Wasow Park today celebrated a record-breaking year for placing formerly homeless New Yorkers into permanent housing. More homeless New Yorkers were connected to subsidized permanent housing than any year in recent history. In Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24), DSS…
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City University of New York (CUNY) peace officer Mohamed Alshami is running for president of Teamsters Local 237 with the goal of unseating Gregory Floyd, who has served as president since March 2007.
According to Alshami, the incumbent Floyd has lost touch with his union members: “We’re all frustrated because they’re not doing anything –– they’re not filing grievances, they’re not handling the disciplinary actions properly, they’re not fighting for our wages,” Alshami said. “Greg Floyd has been ignoring our requests to help us file lawsuits, even when I provided him attorneys that could help us for free. He just ignored it. They wanted to help us to fight for better wages. And, you know, when somebody is providing free attorneys to help us, you take that opportunity and work with them, but he decided to ignore our request.
“Everything that we’ve been asking for is not being met. So once I had the opportunity and was notified about the election, I decided to run for president.”
Floyd pushed back against these accusations. He told the AmNews he has consistently strengthened Local 237 during his presidency and is not hearing from any disgruntled union members. Floyd confessed he does not know who Alshami is nor understand the basis of his complaints. “I don’t know him,” Floyd said. “He’s never been to a union meeting; he’s never been to the union building. He didn’t come to the nomination meeting –– He emailed it in, he’s running by himself.”
Floyd asserted that Alshami’s rhetoric doesn’t match the facts. “This is not my first election,” Floyd said. “This is actually my fourth. And every time there was an election [in the past], there were at least one or two slates of candidates running for office. This is the first time that we had virtually no opposition in the other offices –– or in this office, because he didn’t show up.”
Alshami admits his campaign is a little small. He says he has been surprised by the restrictions on his ability to campaign but is using social media to get his name –– and that of his vice-presidential pick, Nadeem Mohammad –– out in front of union members.
Local 237, the Teamsters’ largest local union with some 24,000 members, represents public hospital police, elevator mechanics, school safety agents, custodians, cooks, NYCHA caretakers, water use inspectors, civil service attorneys, and cement masons/mason helpers.
Local 237 election sample ballot
Ultimately, Alshami wants to make changes to the way Local 237 operates. He said if he wins the election, he would prioritize listening to the union’s membership. “I want everybody to send me an email [listing] their complaints against business agents, lawyers, the executive board, or whoever works for Local 237. I want them to send a complaint and tell me what happened after they submitted their grievance, complaint, or whatever –– what did that Local 237 employee do? Most of the complaints are being ignored or they’re working behind their backs with management, or they negotiate for lesser charges or whatever. Sometimes they’re just being ignored.”
Alshami says that’s one of his chief complaints, and it’s the most serious kind of response to union members he wants to see changed.
“I want to have everybody’s complaints and then investigate who should stay with Local 237 and who should be replaced. That way I could change the whole union from top to bottom. And then after that, I’m going to look into everybody’s salaries and see if I can get better salaries by comparing with other agencies that do the same or similar work as them and then start legal actions through arbitration or courts …. I do believe that we could change this. It’s that I have to lead the unit in order to get this done.”
Floyd counters that because his administration of Local 237 has given members free health coverage, five-dollar copays for prescriptions, maintenance of benefits, annuity plans, and contracts that are up to date, he has seen virtually no opposition from union members.
“If not all of them, most of them are satisfied with the job that we’re doing,” Floyd said. “Now, do I have a few people here and there that are not satisfied? Sure. Is Mr. Alshami one of them, probably so. But I’ve never met him. Never even had a conversation with him. So I don’t know who he is or what his problem is, but this election will show where our members are on this.”
Throughout the film “Sing Sing,” characters “trust the process,” whether putting together a comedy production or challenging a wrongful conviction. Doubts are met with patience, even if the system gives Black and Brown men incarcerated in New York State little reason for faith.
“It’s just trusting that if we do everything as it aligns itself, it’s going to turn out right,” said Sean Dino Johnson, who plays himself in the film. “Working in the theater, we tend to want to just catch it when we catch it. And sometimes it’s not meant for you to catch that. You might be practicing [and] rehearsing, and then the day before the show is chaotic.
“And [it’s] like that with our lives, too. We’re so busy saying it’s not gonna work, but if we just relax and trust in the hard work that we put in, something magical just happens. And that’s the process.”
Now, Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA), the real-life program featured in the movie, will also “trust the process” as last month’s nationwide release of “Sing Sing” brings unprecedented momentum. As the film depicts, the nonprofit organizes stage plays in New York State prisons starring the very people incarcerated there, including Johnson, who was held at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, where the program began.
Charles Moore, RTA’s director of programs and operations, says people as far as Japan and the United Kingdom line up to volunteer or pitch in following the film’s release. But RTA remains a plucky New York-based operation housed on the SUNY Purchase campus and reliant on teaching artists commuting to remote prison towns — with travel sometimes almost as long as the classes themselves.
The cast of “Sing Sing.” (Dominic Leon photo)
“We would like to grow, but sometimes growth could be dangerous,” said Moore. “As long as we grow slowly and smartly, we’ll be alright. You can’t have this film come out and say, ‘Oh my god, this is our opportunity, here’s all this money [to] be in 50 states.’”
The organization’s first major grant showed Moore the pitfalls of success. The bigger the budget, the more money needs to be raised the following year. Still, many communities can benefit from a prison arts program, and the ambition is certainly there.
John “Divine G” Whitfield — a founding member of RTA who served as an executive producer for “Sing Sing” and is played by Colman Domingo as the lead protagonist in the film — is excited at the prospect.
“When we came into the program, that was our mission of expansion,” said Whitfield. “We wanted to share it, because if it was helping us, we knew it could help other people. This movie is giving us what we’ve been always trying to do, but now we get ready to take it to a whole new level. I think pretty big. Everybody [tells] me to reel it in a little bit…this is a step by step process [but] I believe we need to take something as good as this and share it with the world.”
RTA members perform “Thoughts of a Colored Man” at Green Haven Correctional Facility in the program’s most recent production. (Video courtesy of RTA)
Behind the Curtain
The nonprofit continues to expand at a healthy pace, now operating core programming in eight medium-to-maximum security prisons across the state — six men’s facilities and two women’s. Beyond theater, courses in other mediums like dance, music composition, and visual arts are offered.
Last spring, RTA launched a reentry program called Reimagining Myself, which was recently enlisted out-of-state by the Sierra Conservation Center, a California state prison. It is also offered at the Greene and Otisville correctional facilities here in New York. Jermaine Archer, RTA board member and alumnus, believes post-release programming was necessary.
“We provide resources for people to become their best self, and we realize what happens when they walk out of prison, we don’t have that community,” he said. “I can yell across the aisle to someone else, and we can talk about the experience. And I had someone there 24 hours a day that could connect with me on these things, with shared experiences.
“When you come home, you’re in the rat race in the subways [and] the grocery store, it’s people all in your space, and people have those freakout moments. And we realized we needed more than just an alumni base.”
In fact, plays only represent a small portion of RTA drama programming. Acting workshops occur multiple times a week and will never make it in front of an outside audience. Course exercises focus on tying improv and character study with personal development, rather than hitting the stage. The actual rehabilitation starts there.
“[Most of] RTA’s work [are] these little magical reckonings that happen in back classrooms and facilities that no one but the 12 members of that classroom and the teaching artists will ever see,” said teaching artist Margaret Ables. “It’s not the day that ‘12 Angry Men’ goes up at Sing Sing, and everybody comes and applauds. It’s the constant transformation that’s happening, 12 men or women at a time, [at] 6 p.m. [in the] back of [a] Green Haven classroom.”
“The Odd Couple” RTA production in Fishkill Correctional Facility. (Photo courtesy of RTA)
The “Sing Sing”cast boasts many alumni who play themselves, including Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin, who co-stars alongside the lead man Domingo. Both performances garnered early Oscar buzz, according to award odds aggregator GoldDerby. But there is no RTA prison-to-Hollywood pipeline.
“Even when we take this film into the facilities for our participants to see, we don’t want them to get the misillusion that they’re going to be the next person to be in a film like this and [that] RTA is about producing big-time actors,” said Moore. “This is a dream come true for Clarence [Maclin]. We never knew that such a great film would be written about RTA and it would have the impact that it’s having.
“We do not promise any of our participants that you’re going to become an actor, a visual artist, or professional dancer. But what we can offer you is an opportunity to improve your life skills and give you a couple tools that will help you make it through this incarceration, and hopefully make you successful as a tax-paying citizen upon your release.”
Fewer than 3% of RTA participants return to prison after release. Comparatively, the state’s overall three-year recidivism rate stands at around 19%, the lowest in four decades. And while arguments and disagreements are expected in such an emotionally-charged environment, not a single physical fight has broken out in RTA programming throughout its history.
“These creative outlets provide incarcerated individuals with the opportunity to reflect on their life experiences and thoughtfully discuss and share those reflections through their work,” said a spokesperson for the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. “By engaging in these collaborative art projects, incarcerated individuals acquire valuable skills and self-awareness, fostering personal growth; which is essential for their successful reentry to the community and helps reduce recidivism.”
John “Divine G” Whitfield (Dominic Leon photo)
Rehabilitating Through the Arts
Moore participated in RTA himself, usually as a perennial supporting cast member. But he says his role didn’t matter — for him, boosting his self-esteem and confidence came first. Ultimately, he was hired by RTA post-release, the first alumnus to work full-time on the nonprofit side.
Both Archer and Moore recall first encountering the program as audience members and mistaking the cast as professional actors before bumping into them later in the yard. They initially wondered what the thespians did to get themselves locked up.
A close friend compelled Archer to interview in his place for the program after being transferred to another facility the year he got off RTA’s waitlist. Archer was reluctant, but wanted to fill his time. Similar to Maclin’s portrayal in the film, the Brooklynite was a known troublemaker. And it was Maclin who vouched for him given their similar backgrounds.
“As a matter of public safety, RTA allowed me to release my inner bozo and allowed me, in prison, to have the childhood that I never had,” said Archer. “I was able to be a child again. I was able to have fun. We used to roll around on the floor. We used to dance. We used to do a bunch of foolish stuff that you can’t do in a maximum security prison, the projects, in the hood.”
“It allowed us to understand, this is the life I probably should have had all this time.”
Despite his early reservations for singing and dancing, Archer found himself playing Riff in “West Side Story” for his first role. Yet he felt himself the most portraying characters who weren’t gangsters. Playing George from John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” allowed him to explore a man burdened with a dear friend holding him back. It was too real.
Archer came home in 2020 after serving 22 years. He now works on a criminal justice grant-making team and sits on the RTA board. While his fellow alumni hail Archer as a magnetic presence, he never auditioned for “Sing Sing.” He spent the time challenging his conviction. This past July, it was vacated.
Humble Origins of RTA
Rehabilitation Through the Arts dates back to the mid-’90s and was initially known as Sing Sing Theater Workshop, recall Johnson and Whitfield, two of the founding members. In fact, the program wasn’t initially intended for rehabilitation; the guys just wanted to put on a play.
Whitfield hopped at the opportunity as a former High School of Performing Arts student with a penchant for ballet, breakdancing, and martial arts choreography. Johnson needed more convincing, initially picturing himself in a leotard outrageously reciting Shakespeare while held in a maximum-security prison.
In reality, the program kicked off with script reading. Early on, participants cliqued up, with some groups refusing to intermingle due to longstanding prison history.
“Everybody just sticks to their own, so we start giving out scripts and we start reading,” said Johnson. “Next thing you know, everyone just got so lost into the material, reading the scripts and acting it out. We enjoyed it, we all learned something about ourselves. We learned some things about other people. And we also learned that we all had a lot in common.
“That was the beginning of the RTA community.”
Through theater, a diverse group held at Sing Sing gathered to put on a performance for the ages and left an impression on everyone from the prison population to the corrections officers. Something special was happening.
As shown in the film, Whitfield knew the ins-and-outs of creating a prison program thanks to his experience in grievance work and as a jailhouse lawyer. They turned to founder Katherine Vockins. Soon bylaws and mission statements were drafted.
Before the program, Johnson rarely spoke more than two words in 10 minutes. Now he works as a marketing director and sits on the RTA board. Whitfield credits the program’s creative writing courses for his success as a novelist. He has since won five national writing competitions.
“Sing Sing”is an extension of RTA’s mission to create change through the arts. Putting back on prison greens for the movie was tough for Johnson. But he says he needed to show the public how humanity exists behind bars. Whitfield, who makes a cameo in the film, hopes audience members take away a simple message:
“Love is the power,” said Whitfield. “I think because we had that element of love within us that circulated through us when we interacted with each other, when we envisioned this program, when we put it on its feet and got it moving. The motivating force behind it all was love.”
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member who writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.
